this may have already been covered, but i cant find the info. im trying to get my leds to light when i open the doors. ive run them off the door plunger and grounded them there as well, but when i open the doors, nothing! they light when i CLOSE the door, and thats not what im looking for. any help would be appreciated. ive also tried reversing the way ive wired it and zilch. thanks in advance.

 

why not tap into your dome light? that way, they would light up when you open your door and stay on for a little bit.

 

try connecting it to your dome light so it comes on with that one.

 

^^^^damn ya beat me to it. haha

 

Where are the led's? If they are under the dash, or in the cup holder you can probably tap the power for the "oven" light.

As far as the plunger switch in the door, the way those work is that they are closed (When the door is open the switch closes) they provide Grounding to the courtisy lights. When the switch is open (when the door is closed) the wire coming to the switch will be live with positive electricity at a lower voltage due to the resistance of the light bulbs in the circut.

Diagram

+ -----Light-----switch--- Gnd

What you have

+ -----Light-----switch--- Gnd
xxxxxxxxxxxx|_LED________|

(x's are just so the diagram shows with connections in the right place.)

DO NOT TRY THIS! Your lights won't work, and you will burn your Led's

+----Light---Led---Switch---Gnd

I bet if you look really close or it is really dark you can see a faint glow from the interior lights (except the oven because that is on a time delay relay).

Good Luck

 

The "Oven" is a lot easier to get to.

 

thanks guys, i found my problem.

 

Man, was I right?

 

well, what i did was tap the power wire for the door plunger at the switch so when the plunger was depressed the lights went out with the overheads when the leds were grounded. that worked fine, but new problem-the overheads wont light when the door is open and when the ground screw for the plunger plate is in, the leds wont stay lit. am i double grounding? i dont know if there is such a term, but something is shorting out the leds and they come on fine when the ground screw for the plunger plate is not in. coincidence? i think not!

 

I looked at the wireing diagram again tonight, and I was right, the door switches provide Ground not power. If you want these lights to come on when you open the door you have to hook the positive lead of the Led's to power and the negitive lead to the interior lights Ground. If you want the lights to come on when the door is opened, and also have them come on when you want them on by a switch, you are going to need a relay. There may be some other work around for this, but it is late and I am tired.

 

That's a good idea. I want to do that in mine now. More light for entry. How would you do that in an xB? I do not like the domelight idea, unless you can pinpoint the wires down below.